Campaign to protect women from sex attacks

The campaign will highlight the issues around understanding consent and the importance and encouragement of reporting assaults. Each week will explore a separate theme.

The theme for week one is: ‘consent’. Many people don’t understand what consent is and believe the absence of a ‘no’ is consent. Things like inability to consent through intoxication or coercing people into committing sexual acts is not consent and we will deliver this message during week one.

Week two aims to educate people of the services available to them after they have been a victim of rape or sexual assault. Specifically to increase awareness of the Oasis at Rivergate in Peterborough – Cambridgeshire’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC).

Week three of the campaign will aim to bust the myths associated with rape, including who victims are and how they are treated.

The final week of the campaign will focus on historical rape, informing people of the support available and action that can be taken against historical assaults. Educating people that it doesn’t matter who it is or when it happened, sex without consent is rape.

“The first week of the campaign highlights that rape is not contained to stranger rape scenarios, and that sometimes there is confusion over the consent issue between people who know each other.

“We want to deliver the clear message that ‘only yes means yes’ anything else is no, and sex without consent [yes] is rape.

“We are aware that many victims are worried they won’t be believed or they don’t remember what happened, however anybody with concerns should call us. We take rape and serious sexual assault very seriously and rape will never be acceptable.”